Myers disregards ‘grumblings’ about Warriors’ spending advantage originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors are spenders, there’s no doubt about it. But they spend on their homegrown talent, players whom they drafted and developed into superstars. They’ve earned that much.
Currently, Golden State’s $178 million payroll is the highest in the NBA and apparently, the Warriors’ spending has ruffled some feathers.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported on Tuesday, citing sources, that rival teams are “grumbling” about Golden State’s spending advantage with possible contract extensions for Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II looming over the course of this summer and the next couple seasons.
Warriors General Manager Bob Myers joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” on Tuesday morning, where he disregarded the report because of the homegrown talent the Warriors were spending on.
“I think on that point, you should be allowed to spend on your own players,” Myers said. “I mean, we drafted a lot of these guys, we developed them. It’s not like we went out and signed all these guys as free agents and built some team that way. Larry Riley’s the guy that drafted [Steph] Curry, I was here when we drafted Klay [Thompson], we drafted Draymond [Green], we drafted [Jordan] Poole, we traded for [Andrew] Wiggins. Nobody wanted Wiggins, I mean nobody was saying anything then.”
The Warriors struck gold with superstars such as Curry, Thompson and Green. They put in the work to develop each one of them into the superstar that they are today. Myers believes they have earned the right to spend on them as they please.
“My response to a lot of that would be, ‘If you draft your own guys and develop them, you should be able to pay those guys and potentially not even a tax,'” Myers added. “It’s a little different.
“Everybody’s got equal playing field in the draft. Everybody drafts usually unless you trade your picks. It’s an opportunity where it’s not about big, small markets. It’s about how well you do with that and then it’s about development. So, I could hear it a little bit more maybe if it was some situation where we signed all these guys in free agency and something like that, but these are our guys and we’ve rode it out with them. We’ve been through highs and lows.”
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Myers is right. The Warriors’ soon-to-be astronomical payroll is a testament to the talent they have drafted, developed and remained loyal to. Of course, Golden State went out and signed superstar Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016, but have since maintained the same core that makes up approximately $115 million of its total $175 million payroll.
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